On the journey

September 28, 2016

A very private loss

It is a loss, even though it is not a bereavement.
It is not sadness inflicted by events,
breaking asunder and stealing happiness.
It is a loss of hopes cherished
at the threshold of adulthood,
but now unfulfilled;
a growing into the reality of
what it had spiralled to become;
not our best
and our flourishing,
but smallness and depletion.
How did we get there,
from starting at such a seeming good place?
A thousand tiny steps, and more,
unchecked.
Cast to sea, floating
ever further apart.
Reconciling in oneself what was good,
with what was not -
is hard to do,
a journey of its own,
that is long and lonely.
Yet,
and yet,
it has been the journey into life -
yours I hope,
and mine I know.